How to dominate at any tech job using spelling bee tips

Language Is a code and vice versa

Brutal competition. Esoteric language challenges. Brain-frying work marathons. Turns out, spelling champs have more in common with coders and engineers than you might think. So when you're ready to get ahead, consider taking a lesson from these very badass children.

Contrary to popular belief, champion spellers aren't robots who memorize the dictionary. The best among them use word roots and etymology to expand their mental reach, as evidenced by Arvind V. Mahankali, here. He won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling knaidel, a German-derived Yiddish word ...

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Larry Downing/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Same principle (but not principal)

Similarly, programming languages are built upon a base code that informs and enables their development. So it's a wise and wily coder who knows the languages beneath the one they're directly working on (like Python built on C++) and can call up that arcane knowledge to solve problems swiftly and authoritatively. Word.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Christopher Levy/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

If you didn't start young, start NOW

Tech, like a spelling bee, is seen as a young person's game, with some stellar spellers already rocking the bee at 9 or 10 years old. So the best time to get going in either of these competitive fields is...yesterday.

The 2012 Spelling Bee champ, Snigdha Nandipati, began training at age four. Successful app developers often start messing with code or building games in grade school. Even if you weren't a precocious tech nerd, there's no time like the present to learn new languages and techniques, so get on it. Age is just a number, but so is your salary.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Pete Marovich, ZUMAPRESS.com

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Learn from the best if you want to beat the rest

Nicholas M. Lee, a participant in the 2015 nationals, says he spoke with former winners to pick their brains. The same strategy works well in any tech job, too, where mentoring is a great option.

Don't look for just the obvious candidates; Steve Jobs's college mentor was Robert Friedland, a former LSD dealer who spent two years in prison before becoming a mining magnate.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

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Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Get educated, and then make an educated guess

No one can memorize the dictionary, just as no one can be 100 percent up to speed on the latest tech systems, languages and trends.

But you can do what befuddled spelling mavens do ...

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

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Caption by: Jefferson Reid

You're smarter than you think

When in doubt, make an educated guess. To get to the point where they can successfully do so, super spellers have studied languages, history, geography and more.

You can do something similar by keeping abreast of tech trends, or just developing a really good reading list covering the history of your branch of tech. And then when you know you don't know something for sure, give it your best shot. You'll guess right more often than you think.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Kitch Bain

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

It's not the shoes

Don't knock magic, since, physics-wise, you can't technically prove it doesn't work. So wearing your lucky shirt to work couldn't hurt either. Just ask 2015 spelling bee co-champ Gokul Venkatachalam, who was sporting a LeBron James jersey under his shirt during the competition .

Although exactly how that helped him spell his winning word, scherenschnitte, we couldn't tell you.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

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Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Visualize it

Successful spelling champs like to do the write thing--as in, pretending to write out the words they're spelling in their palms. These spelling bee bosses say it helps them remember better.

Those same kind of mnemonic triggers help engineers get unstuck, too. That's why they map out wireframes to help them imagine things different ways. When flummoxed, coders often tell each other to think through knotty problems on a notepad or even the palm of their hands instead of remaining trapped in the box, hammering away on they keyboard.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: EPA/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

But don't just compete: Complete

Competitive speller Nicholas M. Lee passed on one tidbit he gleaned from a former champ. "You're not competing against the kids," he told CBS News, "you're competing against the dictionary."

In other words, focus on the larger task at hand and the process. If you're a coder, the goal isn't just to beat the people coding beside you, but to conquer the overall task, a process that often has cooperative aspects in addition to individual competitive ones.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: iStock

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Work smarter, but really: Just work harder

The-14-year-old 2004 Spelling Bee Champion David Tidmarsh worked seven days a week in the months leading up to the competition before finally making it to the top.

Sound familiar? Builders and coders need premium perseverance to bust through deadlines and debug like mad on the way to a successful launch. If you know you have a huge deadline coming up in six months, build up your endurance over time, so you're not falling asleep at your desk during crunch time.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Reuters/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Practice for the big stage

Spelling bees are just as much about showmanship as smarts. That's why the folks at the Scripps National Spelling Bee recommend practicing the public side of the competition to get comfortable.

Coders may not be known for their glad-handing, but smart ones should. You can be the best engineer in the world, but if people don't like working with you, your career is dead.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Christopher Levy/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Stalling: It can't hurt

Cagey spellers understand how to tread water by asking for a word's origin, definition, pronunciation or grammatical function.

This tactic also works wonders in the tech office when you momentarily draw a blank. If you're a project manager, and you're suddenly put on the spot about your progress, stall: "I'm glad you brought that up! We should interface about that!" "Priority-wise, how does this stack with that other build we have due next month?"

Short-term B.S.-ing: Often, it's just part of the job.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: EPA/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Nothing flashy about flashcards...except success

Top-flight word warriors like Snigdha Nandipati, seen here winning the National Spelling Bee, know that the road to the top isn't flashy. Unless you're talking about 30,000 boring old flash cards, which Nadipati reportedly studied to master the sneakiest word snakes.

If a 14-year-old can flex that kind of verbal muscle, surely you can get your flashcard on to learn or review code snippets in Javascript, PhP, HTML5 or start learning some the esoteric stuff that'll get you to the next level.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: EPA/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Practice your celebratory move

Some of the best winning moments from the national spelling bee are obviously spontaneous jumps for joy. But some winners moves are more akin to well rehearsed NFL end-zone dances.

A case in point was 10-year-old Ryan De La Rosa, seen here winning the spelling bee for fourth-graders at Fullbright Avenue Elementary School in 2011. He envisioned his win and he's entitled to revel in it.

That wisdom works just as well at tech firms, where a team works toward a shared goal. Project managers often encourage individuals to celebrate small victories and milestones achieved along the way.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Michael Owen Baker/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

But don't go full Flashdance

Yes, a job well done deserves a little dance (see previous slide), but excessive celebration like doing The Dougy can get you flagged as a bad sport (pictured here: the overly enthusiastic Samir Sudhir Patel, celebrating at the Scripps 2006 National Spelling Bee). That idea goes for you, too. Yes, you, in the app design department.

Product development is a team sport, after all, so even if you hit your marks early and often, remember you're still part of the larger group. If you put inadvertent pressure on the debuggers in the QA department with a premature victory celebration, you're not doing yourself any favors.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: EPA/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Just bluff

Performance is the final measure of winning the games of spelling and tech innovation, but style points count too. Hence the importance of inner calm and the sheer confidence. Or just a whole lot of enthusiasm.

Confidence isn't just bluster. It can also rattle the competition while reassuring your team. Walk tall and wear it proudly next time you walk into a meeting with VCs.

Published: September 11, 2015 -- 12:40 GMT (05:40 PDT)

Photo by: Reuters/Corbis

Caption by: Jefferson Reid

Break the rules. And you read that right.

Turns out, rules are fundamentally unruly. After all, every spelling champ knows that it's I before E except after C ... and dozens of other exceptions that make no sense.

But it just so happens that this maddening lack of structure works just as well in tech: There's a reason why so many tech industry deadlines slip, whether they're on the engineering side or the documentation side. Excellence just doesn't follow a calendar, so don't beat yourself up if your project ends up on the late side. Every good tech endeavor does.

Letter rip: Lessons any high-tech office warrior can learn from the teenage word masters of the National Spelling Bee

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Language Is a code and vice versa

Brutal competition. Esoteric language challenges. Brain-frying work marathons. Turns out, spelling champs have more in common with coders and engineers than you might think. So when you're ready to get ahead, consider taking a lesson from these very badass children.

Contrary to popular belief, champion spellers aren't robots who memorize the dictionary. The best among them use word roots and etymology to expand their mental reach, as evidenced by Arvind V. Mahankali, here. He won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling knaidel, a German-derived Yiddish word ...